


Meet Me in the Hallway

by slimbojimboslice



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M, New York Rangers, Yearbook
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-31
Updated: 2017-05-31
Packaged: 2018-11-07 04:06:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11050980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slimbojimboslice/pseuds/slimbojimboslice
Summary: Jimmy is the yearbook editor. Brady is in the yearbook, like, a lot.





	Meet Me in the Hallway

**Author's Note:**

> They say write what you know, and I just finished my yearbook. The deadline stress and yearbook jargon is semi-autobiographical, the rest is not. Enjoy!

When Jimmy gets to class, there’s a note from the sports editor taped to his computer,

Can you get a headshot + quote from Brady Skjei this period? I need it for an alt copy on the hockey page. -Bec

Bec would never understand how much Jimmy absolutely cannot do that.

-

It’s not the principle of it, that as the yearbook editor Jimmy shouldn’t be given work that could easily be done by a bored freshman with nothing better to do. It’s not that he hates interrupting teachers to pull a student out of class. It’s not even that Jimmy can’t be bothered to go up a flight of stairs to this kid’s classroom. It’s that after too many late nights on too little sleep, poring over spreads to make sure that the spacing is just right and double-checking names, Jimmy has developed a crush on Brady Skjei.

-

At first it was nothing, just Jimmy thinking that Brady was cute in a photo from senior picture day on the field, posing with his friends in their matching shirts. Jimmy wrote the caption for that photo: Showing off their homemade shirts, hockey players and best friends Chris Kreider, Tanner Glass, Brady Skjei, and Dan Girardi pose on the field after the senior class photo. Jimmy name-checks Skjei 3 times because there’s no way that’s really how it’s spelled, and barely thinks about if Brady has a nice smile or not.

Jimmy doesn’t have much power in deciding who goes in the book, but at the end of the day a lot of decisions are left to him. However, even if it weren’t for his tiny crush on Brady, the kid sure ended up in the yearbook a hell of a lot.

Senior picture day is one thing, but then Brady’s on music too because apparently he plays the guitar, and that piece of information really isn’t helping Jimmy. He has to make an executive decision and take Brady off of the friends page, since he and the hockey bros are already pictured, but the caption on the photo of them hanging out at the rink was kind of sweet: Friends since peewee hockey, Brady Skjei, Dan Girardi, Tanner Glass, and Chris Kreider can always be found hanging out after practice. If they’re not at the rink, they’re at Girardi’s house playing video games and watching movies.

Brady shows up again in the academics section in an alt-copy about how an athlete tutoring program has supported him in high school. He’s not named in the teachers section, but he can be seen laughing in the background of a photo of a teacher known for his jokes. The hockey season isn’t close to over yet so that spread has barely been touched, but Jimmy isn’t looking forward to learning Brady’s stats too in order to write an interesting caption for an action shot of him on the ice.

Jimmy reads everything twice, because it’s his job, but maybe gives Brady’s quotes and photos a third glance.

-

Brady isn’t the first person that Jimmy has accidentally learned lots of random facts about because of the yearbook, but nothing has ever stuck in Jimmy’s brain like knowing that Brady loves playing One Direction songs on the guitar or that they had the same history teacher that term, and apparently both found him hilarious. It’s definitely weird though, that Jimmy can’t stop thinking about what his laugh might sound like or what his favorite video game to play with his friends is, because they’ve never met once. They’ve never had a single class together, never greeted each other in the halls, but Jimmy has a huge crush on him just because Brady is in the yearbook a lot.

-

But now here Jimmy is, feeling like an absolute tool with a camera around his neck and a reporter’s notebook in his hand as he walks to Brady’s class. Jimmy knows he’s working himself up and this interaction will go exactly like always. He’s going to knock on the door, ask for Brady, ask him the question, snap a photo, and they’ll never speak again. The only problem is, this isn’t some random student Jimmy’s never heard of, it’s the guy he’s been thinking about since their first deadline.

Jimmy knocks on the classroom door relieved to see it’s his old chem teacher who liked him and won’t give him a hard time about pulling someone out of his class.

All eyes are on Jimmy as he stands in the threshold of the door and he scans the room to make sure Brady is there.

“Hi, um, can I see Brady Skjei for a minute? Its, uh, it’s for the yearbook,” Jimmy says gesturing to his camera.

Brady gets up from his seat and makes his way out of the class, laughing as his friends mock him with a chorus of oooooh’s, pretending that he’s getting pulled out of class for being in trouble. Brady closes the door behind him and then it’s just the two of them in the hallway with Jimmy reminding himself about journalistic integrity, or something, to keep himself focused. Brady shoves his hands in his pockets, clearly waiting for Jimmy.

“So, uh, this is for the hockey page in the yearbook. I just need to ask you a question and take your photo,” says Jimmy, whose eyes keep darting around nervously. Jimmy hopes his behavior is still in “social anxiety territory,” and it’s not obvious he has a crush

“Sounds good, what do you want to know?” asks Brady. Jimmy fumbles for his pen and flips through the notebook to find the page Bec had written the question on. He does a quick scribble in the margins to make sure the pen is working, then looks back up at Brady, who’s smiling out of either amusement or fondness, and asks the question.

“What is the biggest takeaway from your high school hockey career?” Jimmy asks, and Brady takes a deep breath trying to think of an answer.

“Sorry, that’s kind of a big question,” Brady laughs, “It’s hard to come up with an answer to that off the top of your head.”

“Take your time,” says Jimmy, “Can I take your photo while you think about it?”

Brady nods and lets Jimmy direct him so his back is against the wall. Jimmy fiddles with the camera, double checking that the setting are right, before he raises it to his eye.

“Ready?” Jimmy asks, and Brady answers with the smile that’s kept Jimmy up at night. It’s kind of goofy, but Jimmy lingers on it. He stares for just a second too long, and he feels it start to get weird that he hasn’t taken the photo yet. He snaps a few in quick succession to compensate and lowers the camera again.

“Can I see them?” Brady asks, relaxing from his pose against the wall.

“Yeah, of course,” says Jimmy, hitting the preview button and turning around so Brady can see.

But then Brady is close, leaning in farther than he probably has to to see the photo. As Jimmy flips through the photos he took, he tries not to consider if Brady is this close to him because wants to be. It’s definitely stupid, but Brady seems to be examining all the photos even though they’re nearly identical, so maybe there’s a little hope for Jimmy.

“They’re all good, what do you think?” says Brady, finally moving away from Jimmy.

“Oh, uh, any of them will work. Usually the lighting in the halls is pretty bad, but you look good,” says Jimmy, and he immediately can’t believe he just fucking said that.

“You think I look good?” says Brady, his lips forming a smile, but Jimmy is too preoccupied with the fact that he’s almost certainly blushing to tell if it’s teasing or genuine.

“Yeah, um, I guess. You know, the lighting…” he trails off, just begging for death at that point, “Do you have an answer to the question yet?”

“Can you repeat it?”

“What is the biggest takeaway from your high school hockey career?” reads Jimmy, who’s just happy to have an excuse to take his eyes off of Brady for a few seconds. Brady thinks for a few more seconds, then opens his mouth to speak.

“Well, I guess it’s that I’m stronger with a team. I don’t know how far I’ll go with hockey, but I’ve definitely learned how much it helps to have a group of guys backing me up,” says Brady as Jimmy takes it down in his shorthand, “Is that enough?”

Jimmy finishes writing and he looks back up at Brady.

“Yeah that’s all I need. Thanks for your time,” says Jimmy, and he starts to walk away.

“Wait!” Brady calls, stopping Jimmy with a hand on shoulder, because that’s what Jimmy needs, more physical contact with his crush.

“I, uh, I wanted to ask you about joining yearbook. What’s your name by the way?” Brady asks, and for the first time he seems a little nervous.

“Oh, I’m Jimmy,” he says. “What do you want to do for the book?”

“I’m Brady, well, I guess you knew that,” he laughs, somewhat awkwardly, and runs a hand through his hair. “I don’t know, I’d love to help though. I guess I could write, or take photos, or I guess whatever you guys need.” He’s rambling a little, but Jimmy is too shocked that someone actually wants to help get the book finished, let alone that that someone is the kid he’s been crushing on because of the yearbook.

“Well if you’re really interested you could come to a meeting, I guess. We meet Tuesdays and Thursdays after school,” says Jimmy, trying to keep himself calm even though he might actually get to talk to Brady again.

“That sucks, I have practice those days. I’d really love to help though. Sorry, Jimmy,” says Brady apologetically, but Jimmy has a solution right away.

“Well, I’m the editor so I’m there almost every day after school. It might be weird since it’s usually just me and you might just be running spell checks, but if you really want to help…” says Jimmy, who is made more confident by getting to brag about being editor. Brady’s face lights up at the prospect.

“No yeah, that sounds… good. I don’t have practice Mondays so I’ll try to come then, yeah?” 

“That’d be great, we could definitely use the extra help. See you Monday?”

“See you Monday,” says Brady. He goes to open the door to his class as Jimmy starts to walk away.

“Oh, one more thing, Jimmy,” says Brady, cracking a smile.

“Yeah?”

“It’s pronounced Shay.”

“What?”

“My last name. You pronounced it wrong, I mean everyone does, but it’s Shay.”

Jimmy can’t help but laugh at that, and Brady does too,

“Alright, well I’ll see you Monday, Brady Shay.”

-

On the walk back to the journalism room, Jimmy can barely wrap his head around what the fuck just happened. He and his crush practically have a date, and while no it’s not a date date, they have a set time and place to meet, so Jimmy is going to call it that.

Jimmy gets back to the room, uploads Brady’s headshot, put it in the folder, and adds it to the hockey spread. He types in the quote, making slight edits for content and clarity. He happily informs the yearbook adviser that they have a new recruit coming on Monday, and that they’ve been saying his last name wrong the whole time.

But hey, at least his crush on Brady means it’s always spelled right.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on tumblr at [heather-cat](http://heather-cat.tumblr.com/) (where i rarely post about hockey) or on twitter at [heather__cat](https://twitter.com/heather__cat) (where i constantly post about hockey)


End file.
